Dr. Valverde has extensive experience developing, managing, and training patient navigation and community health worker interventions. She managed the five-year National Cancer Institute clinical trial on patient navigation at Denver Health and Hospital. Dr. Valverde is principal investigator of the Patient Navigator Training Collaborative, a national training program of patient navigators, care coordinators, community health workers and promotoras de salud. Dr. Valverde leads research on tobacco and vaping interventions for Latinos and low-income tobacco and nicotine users. She has training as a tobacco treatment specialist. Dr. Valverde teaches the Social and Behavioral Factors in Health and Latino Health courses, has taught Community Health Assessment, and is a coach for MPH capstone courses. Dr. Valverde is on national committees for patient navigation and is currently on the Colorado Tobacco Review Committee for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Previously, she was a commissioner on the Minority Health Commission at the Office of Health Equity at CDPHE.
Areas of Expertise
- Patient navigation interventions
- Community health worker interventions
- Care coordination
- Tobacco cessation
- Health equity
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- PhD, Health Services Research, Colorado School of Public Health, 2014
- MPH, Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 1996
- BA, Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1990
Awards
- Faculty Excellence in Public Health Practice, Colorado School of Public Health, 2020
Affiliations
- Member, Tobacco Review Committee, Colorado Department of Public Health Environment
- Board Member, Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking
- Workforce Development Work Group, National Navigation Roundtable
Courses
- CBHS 6610: Social and Behavioral Factors in Health
- CBHS 6645: Latino Health
- CBHS 6670: Independent Studies—Latino Health
- CBHS 6990: MPH Capstone Preparation (coach)
- CBHS 6990: MPH Capstone Integration (section head)
Research
- NIH/NIAAA (subcontract only) Transition to Recovery, Native Center for Alcohol Research and Education (N-CARE), December 2017-November 2022. Role: Co-Investigator
- University of Colorado Cancer Center, Latino Youth Vaping Project, March 2019-June 2020. Role: Pilot Leader
- Lung Cancer Research Foundation, Improving Preventive Care to Reduce Lung Cancer Disparities, July 2019-June 2021. Role: Co-Investigator
- The Colorado Health Foundation. Patient Navigator Training Collaborative, November 2019-October 2020. Role: Principal Investigator
- Veterans Administration, Rural Native Veteran Navigation Program, November 2019-September 2023. Role: Co-Investigator
- Centers for Disease Control, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network, RESULTS: Resources, Engagement, and Support for the Use of Lifetime Tailored cancer prevention Services, September 2019-September 2024. Role: Co-Investigator
Publications and Presentations
- Valverde PA, Burhansstipanov L, Patierno S, Gentry S, Dwyer A, Wysocki KL, Patterson AK, Krebs LU, Sellers J, Johnston D. Findings from the National Navigation Roundtable: A call for competency-based patient navigation training. Cancer. 2019 Dec 15;125(24):4350-4359. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32470
- Ayele R, Jones J, Ladebue A, Lawrence E, Valverde P, Leonard C, Cumbler E, Allyn R, Burke B. Perceived Costs of Care Influence Post-Acute Care Choices by Clinicians, Patients, and Caregivers. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019 Apr;67(4):703-710. Doi:10.1111/jgs.15768.
- Valverde PA, Calhoun E, Esparza A, Wells KJ, Risendal BC. The early dissemination of patient navigation interventions: results of a respondent-driven sample survey. Transl Behav Med. 2018 May 23;8(3):456-467. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibx080. PubMed PMID: 29800405.
- Kinney AY, Howell R, Ruckman R, McDougall JA, Boyce TW, Vicuña B, Lee JH, Guest DD, Rycroft R, Valverde PA, Gallegos KM, Meisner A, Wiggins CL, Stroup A, Paddock LE, Walters ST. Promoting guideline-based cancer genetic risk assessment for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in ethnically and geographically diverse cancer survivors: Rationale and design of a 3-arm randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2018 Oct; 73:123-135. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2018.09.005.
- Wells KJ, Valverde P, Ustjanauskas AE, Calhoun EA, Risendal BC. What are patient navigators doing, for whom, and where? A national survey evaluating the types of services provided by patient navigators. Patient Educ Couns. 2017 Aug 31. pii: S0738-3991(17)30531-1.
